


COPYRIGHTj 1^21 

BY 

THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 

OF NEW YORK 



PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS 



NOl/ 18 '21 ©CU630521 



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IREAT scenery near great 
cities is far to seek, Edin- 
burgh has a mountain in 
town: so have Rio and 
Hongkong. Innsbruck and 
Seoul are girdled with parti- 
colored peaks. But metropolitan centers like London and Paris 
and Berlin and Chicago do not offer cliff-climbs and caves whence 
one can get home to lunch, or camp-life and canoe beaches under 
big-wood slopes— just across the ferry. New York has provision 
close at hand for high-heels and hob-nails and the happy hard- 
ships of the Scout— stately panorama or book-beneath-the-bough 
—adventure, discovery, or the mere wandering of desire— for all 
kinds of its many peoples— in Their Own Wild Park. 

[I] 



All but the northern tip of it is in New Jersey. But it is New 
York that needs and uses it and pays its proper proportion of the 
cost. More than twelve miles long, three hundred to five hundred 
feet to its summits, an eighth of a mile from cliff-top to river-edge, 
it reaches back, in places, along waterfalls and brooks, into deep 
woods. In all its forest cover few finer trees are found than those 
that cling to the stiff slope between precipice and beach. Woods 
and bush are missing only where gigantic boulders pile as steep as 
rock will lie, or loose small stone slips in "screes". 

All the way, save for an upper detour now and then, a broad 
path follows close to the water, while along the middle part a 
drive-way winds beneath the Great Wall. Playgrounds and 
pavilions, bathing beaches and camp grounds, canoe coves and 
motor boat basins, and facilities for picnics and cooking fires are 
everywhere thought out. The lovers of crowds seek packed 
beaches and shelters to dance in and green tables under the trees 
to spread out food. The lover of solitude finds it by the half mile 
in between the ferries on the bluffs, or up the slope, or in the 
northward parts. Sons discover fathers to be comrades in 
adventure, and mother-of-the-hot-kitchen sits at ease while 
children cook. And other lovers there are. 

The mountain wildness and grandeur of the Palisades will not 
be apprehended by those who only see them from a train window 
a mile away on the opposite shore or from the deck of a river 
steamer that follows the eastern bank. To them the top appears 
monotonously level, the wandering fluted front no more than 
flat wall, and the tree-screen formless as spinach. Actually, along 
this narrow strip, where most of the mileage is on edge, there is 
surprising variety — with time and a map to seek it. Spring and 
its decorative dogwoods, autumn and its flaming maples, are 
little more alluring than the cool months when the dropped 
leaf-curtain reveals all vistas and keen air drives leg pistons 
uphill with none of the wet penalty of August; when the reclining 
rock giant is quicker to hunt out, the new ascent easier to espy, 
and hot food and drink are never so comforting. 

Map and text will show the variants of walks and what may be 

[2] 




compassed in the hours 
available. They check up 
the best outlooks and the 
rock freaks — huge clefts and 
little caves, arches and 
crevices to squeeze through, 
outstanding obelisks, and 
other goals for a climb. 

The charts of the amateur 
mapman try to hark back 
to the time when the high 
tide of art in cartography 
swept round the world, 

when maps were not abstractions but pictures — the same 
type that the eye of the airplane is bringing back to us again — • 
picture-maps which, when made for use in this locality, show 
our shore as though we imagined ourselves flying along the edge 
over the river. The rest of the chart, the vertical geography, the 
view of the front that fits the topside sketchmap, is to lure us 
aloft. This front view has been outlined as it looks in spring or 
fall when the growth exposes what it hides in summer, while 
the evergreens are drawn Noah's-Ark-fashion to help in the 
search for particular places. The drawings are memoranda of 
the fountain pen to hint at the temptations. 

The history is only touched upon, as it has been already 
written. The getting of the land, under the impulse of a great 
idea, at an outlay equal to that for a lot on Wall Street, is (all 
too briefly) told, in order that we may know whom to thank — we 
who might still be shuffling restless feet on pavements, possessed 
of no place to hang them over into the sky, nor river to wade 
into. And now this place and what it provides for dwellers in a 
sea-city, for Americans who drive and sit and cannot walk, who 
calculate but cannot contemplate, this place may serve to prac- 
tice some lessons from the Masters in the Use of Out-of-Doors — 
the British who curtail workhours for exercise, and preserve 
forests and flowers; the Germans of the guidebook and nature- 

[3] 



picture, the walking tour and the picnic; and the Japanese who 
perfected the care of, and the reverence for, and the pilgrimage 
to, wild nature, almost before these other nations were born. 

The walker, whose wanderings of the week-ends of two winters, 
autumns and springtimes, jotted down, were made into this little 
guide, records his hearty appreciation of the courtesies extended 
by the Park authorities, especially by the General Manager of all 
parts of the Park, Major William A. Welch. He acknowledges 
his indebtedness to the little book by Arthur C. Mack, issued 
1 6 years ago by the Palisade Press of Edgewater, "The Palisades 
of the Hudson"; to Professor C. P. Berkey of Columbia Univer- 
sity; to Messrs. Ludlow Griscom and H. E. Anthony of the 
American Museum of Natural History; and to the funds of 
knowledge kindly drawn upon, in verbal communications, by 
Mr. William O. Allison of Englewood and Mr. L. H. Tavernier 
of Alpine. The American Geographical Society is in no way 
responsible for the shortcomings of this offhand cartography, nor 
the Park Commissioners for any suggested climbs that possess 
elements of danger. This is a personal appreciation of a Great 
Playground. 




iEkcU/WTJ,xI 



Geology 

The average visitor to a scenic park close to a great city goes 
there to rest and recreate mind and body and is but little con- 
cerned with the geologic formations that are the bases of the 
attractions and beauties of the place. At Palisades Park, how- 
ever, the attention of the most casual observer must be immedi- 
ately drawn and his curiosity aroused by the striking upright 
wall of rock from which the region derives its name. 

What was the process by which this wall was built of two kinds 
of rock, and why on one side of the river only? 

The rocks of the Palisades Section of the park are, almost 
exclusively, of two kinds, the Newark sandstones and the 
intrusive Palisades diabase. For millions of years there accumu- 
lated on the lowlands, of which a broad belt of this part of the 
present state of New Jersey then consisted, layer upon layer of 
sand and mud washed down from the higher lands, in times of 
high water, and spread out over wide areas thousands of feet deep. 
Solidified, partly by pressure but in greater part by the deposi- 
tion of mineral matter which penetrated the porous mass and 
cemented its particles together, these deposits became the so- 
called Newark sandstones. Today they lie under the Palisades 
and beneath the Hackensack meadows. The sandstone is to be 
seen, red, in the old Dutch house walls. The city's sad chocolate- 
colored fronts are sandstone. It belongs to the Triassic age, and 
in its layers are to be found the foot-prints of the land animals 
of that age among which were huge amphibians that wandered 
about over the mud-flats of their time. The oldest inhabitant of 
New York City, of whom any authentic relics have been found, 
curled himself up and laid himself down to die and got himself 
turned into stone in our Park, in the township of Fort Lee, along 
the shore near Dupont Dock. There he was discovered in 191 1 
in "the sandy marl hardened or rather burned by the over- 
hanging trap" rock, twenty feet below the basalt. The Museum 
pictures him — the First Fossil of New York town, barring a few 
fishes — ^and he looks something like a narrow-nosed, long-legged 
alligator, 23 feet from his slender snout to the tip of his tapering 

[5] 



tail. He is a phytosaur, and his name is Rutidon manhattanensis 
— a happy creature, nevertheless, permitted to stay in swimming 
all day long. There are also to be found mud-cracks and fossils 
of fresh-water fish that testify to the continental origin of the 
sediments. The reddish ledges show along the shore path in 
many places (as above and below Alpine, view, Map E, and 
picture, page 28). White and red are in sharp contrast. This 
rock is chiefly near the river level and is usually hidden behind 
the talus, but not far from the State line it rises as high as 180 
feet above the water. 

After these sandstones had been formed, sometime in the ages 
that followed, molten rock was forced upward through rifts 
in them, forming immense dykes and sills or sheets 700 to 1,000 
feet thick and now stretching some 40 miles along the Hudson. 
When the molten mass cooled, contraction broke the sheet 
whose edge now forms the Palisades into great crude vertical 
columns. They are less handsome or regular in form but less 
monotonous than their cousins at Fingal's Cave in Staffa, Scot- 
land, or the continuation, the Giants Causeway in northern 
Ireland. There are other such sills to the west, in the Watchung 
Range that makes Essex Park near Orange. This diabase, or trap 
rock, as it is called, is much more resistant to weather and water 
than sandstone. Consequently the crumbling away of the sand- 
stone has left it exposed as we see it today. 

In the Highlands of the Hudson is located the Bear Mountain- 
Harriman Park section, and here we have to do with a quite 
different series of geologic events. Hereabout stood great moun- 
tains, in places reaching a height of 10,000 feet, among them the 
so-called Taconic Mountains, only the roots of which remain 
today. The sedimentary rocks of this region were laid down in 
the sea floor, layer by layer, until thousands of feet had accumu- 
lated. Those were the days of no higher life than the simple 
fishes many tens of millions of years before the Newark sand- 
stones were formed . Then a great compressive force in the earth's 
crust tilted, folded, and elevated the ocean floor in the region of 
the Highlands and thus brought into being a magnificent moun- 

[7] 



tain range. On account of the great heat and the pressure the 
marine sediments were greatly changed in character. Gneisses 
and schists outcrop along the Hudson and form the chief rocks 
of the Highlands. Though some are altered sediment most of 
them are known as igneous rocks. While uplift was going on 
and in all the ages since then the weather and the streams have 
been wearing down the surface. Wide valleys were formed, the 
rocks flaked here and crumbled there. Torn by the gullies and 
riven by the frosts, the whole surface was worn down to a region 
of moderate elevation until we have low, rounded ridges which 
are left as highland country only because the softer rock on either 
side has been more recently worn away. 

Then another force acted on these cliffs. Once magnolias grew 
in Greenland, but before the slow advance of ice sheets forests 
took flight. From Labrador a glacier covering this part of the 
continent moved on, a mile deep at the Catskills, and dropped 
over the Palisades in an "ice-fall" notably thicker than the eleva- 
tion of these cliffs themselves, to end in a well-marked front on 
Staten Island and Long Island (see lower right-hand corner of 
block diagram, page 6). The tools of the glacier were the sharp 
rock fragments borne along under the enormous weight above. 
Their work may be seen in the deep gouges in the specimen at the 
entrance of the American Museum of Natural History. Striae 
are in great abundance on the Palisades, in places several inches 
to a foot deep and five feet wide, as at Englewood. The polish 
on hard rocks is shown at Alpine's old schoolhouse. The ice 
scours off loose earth, carries a vast amount of debris on its sur- 
face or frozen into it, and thus transports rocks even as big as a 
seven-storey house. Our region has plenty of samples brought 
from the Highlands of the Hudson. If landed today, at the rate 

The above is chiefly from W. J. Miller: The Geological History of New York 
State, New York State Museum Bull. No. i68, Albany, 1914; R- D. Salisbury and 
others: The Glacial Geology of New Jersey (Geological Survey of New Jersey, 
Vol. 5), Trenton, 1902; H. F. Cleland: Geology, Physical and Historical, New 
York, 1916. 

The diagram is enlarged in area from A. K. Lobeck: The Superb Position of 
New York City as a center for Physiographic Study, Annals New York Acad, of 
Sci., Vol. 28, 1918, pp. i-s. For Phytosaur see: W. D. Matthew, Amer. Journ. of 
Set., Vol. 33, 19 1 2, p. 397; and F. von Huehne, in Bull. Amer. Museum of Natural 
History, Vol. 32, 1913. p. 275. 

[9] 



of the speediest boulder train, these would have started in the 
time of Caesar. Some that passed by, from the Adirondacks to 
Long Island, took ten thousand years to make the journey. The 
best of these erratics is in Englewood Cliffs (page 26). Another, 
of Triassic sandstone, lies Yi mile northwest of Coytesville, at an 
elevation of 230 feet, and measures 15 by 10 by 6 feet. For a 
million years the ice was at work and then it withdrew, some 
25,000 years ago or more. 

History 

A sea route to India shorter than that around Africa was once 
an object of wide exploration. In 1609 an Englishman in com- 
mand of a Dutch ship, while hunting for the Northwest Passage, 
sailed up a great arm of the sea running toward the north. 
September 13 of that year, Henry Hudson, in the Half Moon, 
made his second anchorage that day opposite the future site of 
Fort Lee. Finding no outlet up the river, Hudson, returning, was 
attacked at a point opposite Hazards Beach by the Indians who 
lived on the bank north of Spuyten Duyvil. A reproduction of 
the ship lies in Popolopen Creek at Bear Mountain. She was 
58>^ feet long, 16 feet beam, and 80 tons burden. As she sails 
up the cover design she is met by Indians in a dugout sketched 
from a boat in the Museum of the American Indian at Broadway 
and 155th Street, a canoe dug up in the meadows west of the 
Palisades. The animals on the cover are drawn from the early 
Dutch maps. The bark huts in which the Indians lived are seen 
on Manhattan, surrounded with "palisades," or a stockade of 
logs on end. 

We think of the Palisades as wooded or inaccessible waste land. 
But the layers of oyster shells and the arrow heads south of 
Alpine and at Cape Flyaway and Cape Comfort along the shores 
or terraces show that the Indians appreciated the bivalves and 
the fish as much as their immediate successors, the whites. In 
the days when roads were uniformly bad, the river constituted 
an important highway, particularly for our amphibious ancestors 
of the canal and the sea. The Hollanders peopled this strip of 

[10] 



ours in such numbers that no part of northern New Jersey, 
according to Mr. Allison, save only Hackensack, had as many 
inhabitants as "Under-the-Mountain," in the old days when the 
word "Palisade" was not used but the cliffs were known as the 
"Mountain." On the terraces "Under-the-Mountain" or "Under- 
the-Hill" one little farm crowded another and several of these 
lasted until the Park crowded them out, the descendants of the 
original settlers still tilling the ground and gathering, from tall 
and ancient trees, famous French pears. These families became 
the richest in the county, their prosperity due to the shallows of 
the river and the rocks on the shore. The river in front swarmed 
with shad in season. The swamp-edged island of Manhattan 
required docks and bulkheads. Here, close at hand, were blocks 
of extreme hardness already shaped for wall building and also soft 
stone for house construction. Though Indian names can hardly 
be encountered, the Dutch left many, but these are not altogether 
simple to recognize when given English sounds. While the hollows 
where the Green brook Lake is to be, always known as "the 
Kelders," is readily seen to mean "the cellars," it requires study 
to trace "Bombay Hook" to "Boomje," little tree. "The Miracu- 
lous," the name of the glen south of Englewood Landing, is 
puzzling. It is not derived from the spirits of this vicinage, its 
neighbors the Sisters of the Peace, inasmuch as they did not 
arrive till long after it was christened. 

In the days when river steamers burned wood, they slid it down 
where the water was deep inshore — hence High Gutter Point. 
In the time when fireplaces heated houses, the rich New Yorkers 
bought sections on top of the Mountain, each with a convenient 
"pitching place." The spot chosen for throwing down the wood 
must have, beneath, not huge rocks where logs would wedge or 
smash, but a smooth or small-stone slope, and the cliff edge would 
better overhang the river with a fair landing below. For example, 
there was one on Allison Point; one in front of Edgecliff; the 
De Peyster pitching place was north of Clinton Point; and an- 
other (Jeffries) with a stone dock, north of Greenbrook. 

We have spoken of this region as occupied by the Dutch. The 

[II] 




yVndre/' SP«/nA -^^isi) 
-ta.t -rvL^^ . liCe/ 

tRi j'oTv^^rvtiTvil^was first,. 



exception was "English Neighborhood," later developing Engle- 
wood out of a settlement called Liberty Pole. 

As the Revolutionary history of this neighborhood has been 
given with considerable fullness by Mr. Mack, and these are days 
to obliterate the ill-feeling of the past, only an epitome is needed 
here. In 1776, when control of the river was all-important, 
General Hugh Mercer built Fort Lee (for location see map A 
at the back, and access map, page 45), while a redoubt on the 
cliff above Hazards Beach guarded the sunken ships and chained 
logs obstructing the river and stretching across to Jeffries Hook, 
where the little lighthouse now stands. Above the point, this 
highest land within the present New York city was crowned by 
Fort Washington, supposed by some of Washington's officers to 
be impregnable. The location of the battle of Harlem Heights 
may be seen by looking across to the dip at 130th St. ferry and 
to Columbia University, for Barnard College stands on the 
famous buckwheat field. After this fight the Americans marched 
along the shore which is opposite us to dig in at White Plains, 
and after that encounter the English army marched south over 

[12] 



the same road to attack Fort Washington. The Father of his 
Country watched, from our side, that disaster and surrender, 
and then, as CornwalHs crossed at Alpine with 6,000 men, had 
to order Fort Lee and all its stores of war material abandoned in 
such haste that the British found the kettles on the fires. This 
anguish of the Great American is the sad memory of the south 
end of our Park. Through the northern extremity one of our 
most admired enemies passed on the day before his death. 
After negotiations with the traitor Arnold for the surrender of 
West Point, Major Andre was captured on the eastern shore and 
brought across at Snedens Landing on his way to trial at Tappan. 
From this point we may pass on to the time when the city 
opposite the Great Wall was slowly aroused to the devastations 
of the quarrymen blasting their way along the cliffs for trap rock 
for roads and concrete. To check this activity the Palisades 
Interstate Park Commission was created in 1900. The name of 
George W. Perkins will always stand out as the organizing genius 
of this movement and its development, and with the story of 
his leadership may be coupled the generous action of J. Pierpont 
Morgan at a critical time, as well as many notable gifts such as 
the deed of land by the Twombleys. The Park is controlled by 
an unpaid Commission appointed by the Governors of the two 
states, and has been supported in equal measure by state and 
private contribution. The original cost of the Palisades section 
was about a half million dollars. The value of the park lands will 
increase rapidly, of which the most striking witness is Central 
Park, now worth 175 times what it cost in 1865. It is to be hoped 
that all those parts of the upper cliff that command particularly 
fine outlooks or exhibit unusual features may be secured before 
residences shut out the public. The vast twin buttresses of 
Ruckman Point are gone. Clinton Point, Bombay Hook, and 
Indian Head are examples of great promontories that should not 
be lost, and the northern end of the Park has no adequate outlet. 

For details concerning the history and development of this section see Arthur C. 
Mack's valuable little book "Palisades of the Hudson," Palisade Press, Edgewater, 
1909; Dr. J. F. Kunz's speech in the volumes on the Hudson-Fulton Celebration; 
and the Report of the Commissioners for the 20th Anniversary. 

[13] 



Animals 

Any of the following might be found, and those that are sure 
to be found belong in the first group, the list being furnished by 
Mr. H. E. Anthony, Associate Curator of Mammals, American 
Museum of Natural History: 

Red fox, weasel, red squirrel, chipmunk, white-footed mouse, 
meadow mouse, jumping mouse, cottontail rabbit, little brown 
bat, big brown bat, common mole, short-tailed shrew. 

Raccoon, skunk, muskrat, opossum, gray squirrel. 

The descriptions of them and their habits will be found in 
"Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey" by Samuel Rhoads, 
published by Wickersham, Lancaster, Pa., 1903, and "American 
Animals," by Stone and Crane, published by Doubleday, Page & 
Co. Tracks in the snow are pictured in Ernest Thompson 
Seton's "Life Histories of North American Animals." 

For Trees and Flowers there are handy pocket guides, 
such as those put out by Doubleday, Page & Co. For Birds the 
pocket guides of Chester A. Reed are convenient. 

List of Birds for Palisades Section of the Park 
(omitting rarer species) 

List furnished by Ludlow Griscom, Asst. Curator of Birds, American Museum 
of Natural History. 

Permanent Residents 
Red-tailed Hawk Downy Woodpecker Goldfinch 

Red-shouldered Hawk Blue Jay Song Sparrow 

Duck Hawk Crow Carolina Wren 

Sparrow Hawk Starling White-breasted Nuthatch 

Hairy Woodpecker House Sparrow Chickadee 

Slimmer Residents 

Green Heron (April 25 — Oct.) Kingfisher (March 25 — Dec.) 

Spotted Sandpiper (April 2 5 — Oct.) Flicker (March 25 — Dec.) 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (May 15 — Whippoorwill (May i — Oct.) 

Oct.) Chimney Swift (April 25 — Sept. 1 5) 

Black-billed Cuckoo (May 15 — Hummingbird (May 10 — Sept.) 

Oct.) Kingbird (May — Sept.) 

[14] 



Crested Flycatcher (May — Sept.) 
Phoebe (March 25 — Nov.) 
Wood Pewee (May 15 — Oct.) 
Least Flycatcher (May — Sept. 15) 
Fish Crow (March 20 — Nov.) 
Cowbird (April — Nov.) 
Meadowlark (March — Nov.) 
Red-winged Blackbird (March — 

Dec.) 
Baltimore Oriole (May — Sept.) 
Purple Crackle (March — Dec.) 
Chipping Sparrow (April — Nov.) 
Field Sparrow (April — Nov.) 
Towhee (April 20 — Nov.) 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (May — 

Sept.) 
Indigo Bunting (May 15 — Sept.) 
Scarlet Tanager (May — Oct.) 
Barn Swallow (April 15 — Oct.) 
Cedar Waxwing (May 15 — Nov.) 
Red-eyed Vireo (May 15 — Oct.) 
Yellow-throated Vireo (May— Oct.) 
White-eyed Vireo (May — Sept. 15) 
Black and White Warbler (Apr. 25 

—Oct.) 



Worm-eating Warbler (May — 

Sept.) 
Blue-winged Warbler (May — Sept.) 
Golden-winged Warbler (May — 

Sept.) 
Yellow Warbler (April 25 — Sept.) 
Chestnut-sided Warbler (May — 

Sept.) 
Ovenbird (May — Oct.) 
Louisiana Water Thrush (April — 

Oct.) 
Northern Yellowthroat (May — 

Oct.) 
Yellow-breasted Chat (May 15 — 

Sept.) 
Hooded Warbler (May — Sept.) 
Redstart (May — Oct.) 
Catbird (May — Oct.) 
Thrasher (April 25— Oct.) 
House Wren (April 25 — Oct.) 
Wood Thrush (May— Oct.) 
Wilson's Thrush (May — Sept. 15) 
Robin (March — Dec.) 
Bluebird (March — Dec.) 



Winter Residents 



Herring Gull (Sept.— May) 
American Merganser (Nov. — Apr.) 
Golden-eye (Nov. — March) 
Black Duck (Sept. — May) 
Bald Eagle (Nov.— April) 
American Crossbill (Sept. — May) 
Redpoll (Dec. — March) 
Pine Siskin (Oct. — May) 



White-throated Sparrow (Sept. — 

May 15) 
Tree Sparrow (Nov. i — April i) 
Junco (Sept. — May i) 
Winter Wren (Oct. — May) 
Brown Creeper (Oct. — May) 
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Oct. — 

May) 



Transient Visitants or Migrants 

Pied-billed Grebe (April and Oct.) 

Mallard (March and Nov.) 

Baldpate (March and Nov.) 

Pintail (March and Nov.) 

Scaup Duck (March and Nov.) 

Ruddy Duck (March — April; Oct. — Nov.) 

[15] 



Canada Goose (March and Nov.) 

Great Blue Heron (April and May; Aug. — Oct.) 

Solitary Sandpiper (May; Aug. — Sept.) 

Sharp-shinned Hawk (April and May; Aug. — Dec.) 

Cooper's Hawk (April and May; Sept. — Dec.) 

Osprey (April and May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Sapsucker (April; Sept. and Oct.) 

Nighthawk (May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Rusty Blackbird (March — May; Oct. — Dec.) 

Purple Finch (March — May; Sept. — Dec.) 

Fox Sparrow (March; Oct. — Dec.) 

Tree Swallow (April and May; July — Oct.) 

Bank Swallow (May; Aug. — Oct.) 

Solitary Vireo (April 15 — May 15; Sept. 15 — Oct. 15) 

Nashville Warbler (May; Sept.) 

Parula Warbler (May; Aug. — Oct.) 

Black-throated Blue Warbler (May; Sept.) 

Myrtle Warbler (April and May; Sept. and Oct.) 

Magnolia Warbler (May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Bay-breasted Warbler (May) 

Blackpoll Warbler (May; Aug — Oct. 15) 

Blackburnian Warbler (May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Black-throated Green Warbler (April 25 — May; Sept. and Oct.) 

Pine Warbler (April) 

Palm Warbler (April; Sept. 15— Oct. 15) 

Northern Water Thrush (May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Wilson's Warbler (May; Aug. — Sept. 15) 

Canadian Warbler (May; Aug. and Sept.) 

Red-breasted Nuthatch (April — May; Sept. — Dec.) 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (April — May 15; Sept. — Nov. i) 

Gray-cheeked Thrush (May; Sept.) 

Olive-backed Thrush (May; Sept.) 

Hermit Thrush (April— May 15; Oct.— Dec.) 

Statistics 
Of the various parts of the Palisades Interstate Park, the 
Bear Mountain-Harriman Park section covers 33,708 acres, 
Hook Mountain 780, Blauvelt 550, and the Palisade section 
1,100 acres, the largest single piece of the latter, at Greenbrook, 
being 160 acres. The total length is about I2>2 miles. Between 
cliff-top and water the width averages something under yi 
mile, the least breadth at one place at Bluff Point, 200 feet; the 

[16] 




^ytM^o< now dy AW C;m^„r, 



greatest at Greenbrook, a 
half mile. The maximum 
elevation at the front, 530 
feet, is at one place west of 
Forest View and another 
north of it, while the highest 
clear cliff, or precipice, is 
330 feet. The top thus 
reaches two-thirds of the 
height of the Woolworth 
Building (792 feet); it is 
loftier than the cliff called 
Equitable. The elevations 
on our maps are in part from 

the U. S. Geological Survey, but chiefly from a map of the front 
made for the Commission by Mr. C. C. Vermeule, in 1900, with 
10- foot contours and some 17 inches to the mile. The location 
of the cliff edge in this guide is from Vermeule, but the lesser 
jogs one has been apt to exaggerate in order to render a location 
more readily recognizable. Woodroads and paths are from pac- 
ing and crude compass readings. 

This season's visitors are given, up to September 18 (1921), as 
1,005,000; the total number of bathers is reported as 254,000; 
the motor boats landing, 4,691; the number of canoes landing, 
19,865. To cover 4,000 camping weeks 1,600 permits were given, 
with as many as 300 tents in use at one time 

The camp sites were formerly from Englewood to Canoe Beach. 
Between Twombleys and Forest View there are (1921) three 
groups, the men at the north, the families next, and the women 
lower down; and for these the fee is nominal. To the south, on 
the Twombley plateaus, is a camp with much higher charges. 

The drinking water is from springs analyzed each year. Any 
found affected are closed. An arrangement is under way to pro- 
vide all this section with service water pipes of the Hackensack 
company. The mains are largely laid on the Boulevard. On the 
maps drinking places are marked W. 

[17] 



General Description 
Walks, views, climbs, and drives. A broad and level path follows 
the water's edge for I2>^ miles. Here and there it runs at a higher 
level, and there is a rocky part north of Forest View. In some 
spots parallel paths or trails take one along an upper terrace. A 
few excellent paths lead to the top and so do numerous trails or 
tracks. The front of the summit of the cliff is accessible by 
footways running the greater part of its length, and, where 
private residences occupy the edge, the road along the summit is 
but a short distance back. This road is wooded and has few 
views unless one makes detours to the front. It is shaded only 
in the afternoon. This is Hudson Terrace and Sylvan Avenue 
south of Englewood Cliffs, and the Boulevard above. The 
northern part is in poor condition (1921) as shown on the Access 
Map. There automobiles do not bother the pedestrian. It is 
useful when late to dinner or in packing to camp. At Englewood 
and Alpine stately driveways drop to the river, and in between 
runs a fine motor road. It serves the walker well when the big 
spring thaw softens the shore path, and sauntering high-heels 
like it. Even in bad weather the cliff-top paths are rarely muddy, 
and when the upper loam road is so, there are wood roads carpeted 
with grass. Mostly the snow blows off these upper levels. The 
wood trails on the slope are wild as the wild mountains in a 
thousand places, and there are clefts to climb all along the 
dozen miles. Thus there is interesting tramping all the year 
round, and all variety of effort. In the spring after a thaw the 
steep slopes are said to be dangerous, as it is then that rock masses 
are likely to hang loosened. At no time of year has anyone any 
business on these sharp inclines who has not incessantly in mind 
that he must start no stone rolling, lest someone below be hurt. 
In very many places the stone could not reach the drive or path 
beneath, and in most it would be arrested by the undergrowth 
or rock piles. Nevertheless lack of care is inexcusable. Yet if, 
for this reason, all were barred from these declivities, it would be 
a hardship on people with muscles in their legs that need moun- 
tains, and spirits that crave discoveries. 

[18] 



Short Walks and Climbs 
Fort Lee and Hazards Beach (Map A; for access, see Access 
Map). The lower section of the Palisades is reached best by 
158th St.-Hazards ferry in warmer months and by 130th St. 
in winter. In New York City take ferry at 130th St. This is 
called Fort Lee or Edgewater or Manhattan Avenue ferry 
indifferently. It is at the end of the 125th St. cross-town car-lines, 
and some of the Broadway cars go there. It is two blocks from the 
Broadway-7th Ave. station at 125th St. which is 20 minutes from 
Times Square. As the south end of the Bluff is \yi miles north 
of the ferry landing and the road is uninteresting, take trolley 
labeled Fort Lee to Main St. (15 mm.). The location of the old 
fort is shown in the map. No remains are now visible, but in 
digging almost any cellar hereabouts, bullets and regimental 
buttons are found, and many stones in the walls are from the 
huts and fireplaces of the soldiers of Washington's army. These 
structures covered ground from >^ mile southwest of the statue 
(Dead Brook Bridge) clear to the river. For Hazards we follow 
Main St. two blocks to Bigler St. and turn to the left on this 
street, walking a distance of two long city blocks to the first dirt 
road on the right. This leads to the front, just above Hazards 
Beach. A redoubt here guarded the obstructions in the river. A 
mass of rock stands out from the bluff. The two different sets of 
steps that lead down to a good path to Hazards and the large 
number of bathers and canoeists may be noted. We may follow 
along the top of the cliff, turning to the edge at several pomts 
The best of these is a square promontory down a little slope A 
mile north of the steps. Quarry ClifT (see p. ^2). This shows 
one of the best of the southern rock faces for decorative mark- 
ings and overhang. Hereabouts, 175 feet farther out stood a 
conspicuous buttress, the original Indian Head, until 1899. i he 
little wood inland is solid dogwood toward the cliff. A bit ot a 
lake is planned for the hollow, and there is a tiny pond there now. 
(Halfway between the steps and promontory a rough way down 
starts at a little flight of narrow stone steps.) Just before the 
restaurant property is reached there is a long wooden stair and 

[19] 



an excellent path across the quarry levels to the shore, Quarry 
Path. (At its lower end, at Carpenters Beach, a good path 
mounts to the double steps above Hazards.) At the foot of the 
long stair a narrow path starts around the rock to the left, 
unpromising at the first turn, but at once showing stone steps and 
fair going, toward Ross Dock. Halfway down, a decrepit path 
branches to the left and up to a bit of view out under a cross- 
block wedged across a cleft. Having reached the shore by any 
of these footways, one turns south to 

Hazards Beach. The pavilion has 2,000 lockers and rooms 
where bathers may change without charge. In 1921 87,413 per- 
sons used these rooms, 32,856 free. A ferry runs to 158th St. 
in summer. For the return to New York one may (i) take this 
ferry, or (2) follow the shore path and walk to the Edgewater 
ferry (2 miles, not recommended), or (3) ascend to take the 
Fort Lee trolley. This ascent may be by the good path starting 
just south of the pavilion and going north on the long incline, 
or by steep trails farther south. The easier of these is found by 
mounting the steps south of the pavilion, going left at once, and 
up the first trail. The second, near Bluff Point, is located by 
following the upper path until just before the river path rises to 
this upper level. 

Bluff Point. This is the southern end of the Park and of the 
Palisades, so-called, since the lower parts farther south are less 
interesting and are obstructed with buildings, (i) The only good 
path is reached via Main St., downhill, and the first little road 
on the left, through trees. (2) For a more interesting way to 
reach the Point one leaves the Fort Lee car (see Access Map) 
before reaching Main St. at the little park with a statue of 
soldiers of the Revolution by Tefft, crosses the park and takes the 
street beyond, downhill, right fork, to the motor road and down 
this road a short block to a path ascending between high walls. 
Or, beyond the walls, a stony field road and the first path on the 
left, circle the foot of the ledges and lead, in 50 yards, to a steep 
path up. There are several little climbs up the rocks on the 
southern and southeastern faces. The view from Bluff Point, once 

[20] 




famous, is much damaged by smoke and a middle distance made 
up of factories and a graveyard of river-craft. In 1776 there were 
earthworks on the southern tip, a redoubt about in a line with 
Main St., and an abatis (trees and brush) further north. Dots on 
Map A indicate Park property, with a strip of private property 
squarely across the summit. This is easily circled only on its 
Fort Lee side. The makeshift bungalows of summer campers 
below the Point are not a Park camp. Going 100 yards north 
from the Point, at a tree with a double blaze, one finds a 
steep descent, slippery in wet weather. At the base of the rock, 
following a weak trail 200 feet, the first gap gives access to the 
top under a horizontal block halfway up. The next climb is 
opposite Dupont Dock. Just to the north of the line of the dock 
an outstanding block about 12 feet high provides a tight squeeze 
for a stout lad, and close by is a little cave up the rock for which a 
rope is needed (see p. 22). 

The circuit given above from Fort Lee round the Quarry Path 
to Hazards and back to Fort Lee can be done in an hour, but this 
allows little time to see the views. There are restaurants and 
grocery stores at Fort Lee and Coytesville. 

[21] 




Fort Lee to Englewood 

Ferry. About 2>^ miles, 
either along the cliff front 
with short detours to the 
road to circle private prop- 
erty or by the wide and 
level path along the shore. 
Hazards Beach Ferry or 
130th St. Ferry and Fort 
Lee trolley. (l) On the top 
above Hazards, after pass- 
ing the Quarry Cliff, instead 
of descending at the long 
stair, turn left to road and, 
passing around the restau- 
rant and houses, come to the 
front again at Coytesville 
Park for the view and the cleft. Twice the detour is repeated 
further on, the second time for a good Italian house and a studio 
with a cold stone lady on a rock. North of this (Map B) the river 
is shut off from sight by lower growth until one approaches The 
Miraculous, the open space and fine trees south of the building 
of the Sisters of the Peace. 

There are interesting descents here, if somewhat rough, either 
before one comes to the brook gully or alongside the brook. The 
path crosses the brook at the foot of the cliff and zigzags down 
toward the ferry. Remaining above, we make the circuit of the 
Sisters' land and go to the front to the promontory above 
Englewood Ferry, Allison Point, with its fine view. There is a 
tempting slide close to the viewpoint down a strikingly pic- 
turesque cut, but rock loosened in such a descent would endanger 
the road below, notwithstanding the fact that the Park force 
have cleared away all stone in danger of falling that rock monkeys 
could lay hands on. Halfway along the retreating part of the 
ledges there is a dip and up again for good climbers. The little 
opening that makes a short cut to the first turn of the motor road 

[22] 



is the Devil's Elbow. His elbow is shabby because the Park 
authorities decline to keep interesting passages like this in 
order in the very natural fear that inexperienced walkers would 
take to them and, for lack of care, come to grief. The two good 
ways down are by a path or, for the sake of the views, down the 
sidewalk that runs along the motor road. Near the foot of the 
roadway there is a fine mass of tumbled rock. (2) Along the river 
path from Bluff Point to Englewood Landing (Maps A and B) 
there are many charming bits, such as Pine Point and where 
trees overhang the water (see p. 24, River Path). For a mile 
south of Englewood Landing the terraces and open groves make 
ideal picnic places and playgrounds for little children, either on 
the grass or among big boulders. Fires may be made along shore. 

For "scrambles" the chances south of Ross Dock have been 
indicated. Just north of Ross Dock a straight-up track leads to 
several striking formations and good ledges. An immense squat 
column stands, as the sketch shows, on a base (olivine, degener- 
ated trap) that gives a thrilling but false suggestion that it might 
crumble at any time. Dropping down as far as the foot of the 
ledges and skirting them northward one can shortly ascend again 
on an old path near a tiny waterfall (after rain). There might well 
be a trail or path along the foot of the cliff, for as we proceed a 
bit of a cave appears and, 
above Pine Point and before 
the next brook bed, there is,. 
first, a leaning column that our 
boy comrade, for its dignity, 
dubs "fallen Caesar" in his toga, 
and, farther on, a cliff arch to 
pass under, while there are sev- 
eral possible ascents not too 
simple. 

From Englewood Ferry 
Landing south and north (Map 
B; for access, see Access Map). 
For easy walks the river path is 

[23] 



i\ha CoPa 
tmd. 




^vr 




|5eS>vv-Er3Wwoo<I Ferry 



broad and level, and the return may be made on the terrace path. 
Englewood Grove and its grass and rocks have been mentioned. 
Northward from the ferry the shore path also winds picturesquely 
after the Playground has been crossed. The return may be made 
on the Drive along which Undercliff Grove furnishes the same big 
trees and grassy slopes and massive rocks as the southern grove. 
To get to the top of the cliffs from the Landing, the sidewalk of 
the motor road, the Approach, shows the easiest grade and best 
views, but has little shade and no seats until the top is reached. 
The pathway is good grade. It starts a short distance up the 
drive way and passes under the road high up, but a branch goes 
left to the uppermost elbow of the road to a little shortcut. At the 
top one turns left to the viewpoint above the ferry, Allison Point, 
proceeding as far south as the fence will permit. This point is 
clearly seen in the sketch "Cooking supper" as the rock-wall 
above the ferry and as the cliff- top in the "Englewood Approach." 
A huge wooden hotel once stood here. Thence one may (i) 
return to the top of the Approach and follow the roadway down 

[24] 



to its up-river elbow and continue north by the drive that starts 
there, past the artist's house, once a school for the children 
"under the Mountain" (see maps), and on to the shore; (2) follow 
road and cliff edge south to descend at the stair at the Quarry 
Path and back alongshore, 3 miles in all, or, better, down at 
Hazards, 4 miles; or (3) proceed nearby, at the Miraculous, along 
the brook of the Sisters of the Peace; or (4), turning north, choose 
a rough descent, unless one prefers to walk 3 miles to the wood- 
road at Lambiers (Map C), down to the shore. 

Englewood Landing has well proportioned pavilions at each 
end of the Basin that holds yachts and motor boats. The build- 
ings, like all of the new construction throughout all sections of 
the Park, are noteworthy as designs peculiarly adapted to their 
setting, with dignified and rather massive tree-trunk supports 
and sweeping roofs and with lower storey of stone in many 
places (p. 4). Wide playgrounds attract their own crowds on 
holidays. From Englewood to Alpine is 5 miles in a straight line. 

Underclifif. The grove has been described. A bathhouse with 
5,000 lockers is under construction. The recess in the cliffs above 
the grove presents some fine rock masses which might well be 
traversed by a path for over half a mile. A conspicuous promi- 
nence, the Chimney, north of the house, fell in 1920. 

Englewood to Greenbrook on Top. The old Dana estate to 
the north, Edgecliff, is now Park property, but occupied. (There 
is a faint path along the front, reached by getting over the low 
wall : the fence is skirted till a trail leads 
down to an unfinished old road which 
comes out on the Drive north of the 
studio.) Proceeding westerly on the 
avenue that leads to Englewood, we take 
the first road north, the Boulevard. 
Just beyond a brook, Demarest Ave., 
left, leads one long block to the best 
erratic in Jersey. At the corner, in the 
woods on the left, stands the boulder 
that has been carried upward at least 

[25] 







^ Van, CT'/-/lTd-J>aJ-/^\ :^,-d/^,„ y>7/i>€7-j/-^;Jj^twr.<y />f/^TcAr^/z^j CV'//^^ ot^^ rro-'/s/hrrd^ 




1 60 feet by the ice sheet. This perched boulder, Sampson's Rock, 
8 by 12 by 12, soft red sandstone touching at few points on the 
hard gray trap rock beneath, has, by its overhang, protected the 
scratches and polish that should be observed and felt. 

Returning to the Boulevard, and passing private grounds, any 
one of several paths lead to the front, to a noble, bare, upstanding 
promontory with a northern outlook which the natives always 
knew as High Tom but which Mrs. Dana wanted to call the Door 
of Manitou. Note, on leaving, the fair picture down the cliff-gap, 
framed in rock — shore and stream beneath, Yonkers beyond. 
This "breakout" is called the Gorge (see p. 42). The panorama 
over "Englewood Approach" was outlined from a little ledge south 
of the promontory. For nearly y^ mile north of High Tom 
the cliff recedes, and there are half a dozen break-outs with 
some ascents of very easy grade and others stiff. The Gorge 
is the longest of these and its footing is in evidence but is not 
troublesome to one who knows the game. Those close beyond 
present a group of good ledges just above the cemetery, which 
may be negotiated with due care without risk of landing there. 
(The Van Wagon en pitching place is diagonally up from the well, 
the path starting from the Drive at the first evergreen north of 
the cemeter>'.) We circle a fine private residence and arrive at 

Clinton Point (Map C). Here along the cliff repeating, table- 
topped, jutting angles are served by a pleasant grassy road to 
which branches lead in from Jackson Ave., the short-cut from 
Englewood, and Clinton Ave., that comes from Tenafly. Few 

[26] 







orJ<irio frtna- 



Y^ 




heights along the "Mountain" give a more striking effect from 
above of a prow overhanging the water and the Drive, or furnish 
better spots for an automobile picnic, as cars can come to the 
front. There are four or five ways down. Counting southward 
from the Point, the first, over 50 yards away, is only for real 
climbers: we might dub it the Stone-crusher Trail to perpetuate 
the old local name for Canoe Beach beneath, and better going 

[27] 




might be made on it both 
above and below the ledge 
The second, the DeviVsHole, 
has more than one passage 

inside the rock that makes it, perhaps, the most interesting climb 
on the Palisades. South of the Point, follow the cliff-edge path 
over 100 yards to a perched rectangular block on the right (oppo- 
site the wood-road that continues Jackson Ave. inward) — thence 
south to a big upright pile, outstanding; dropping down north 
of that to sight a tall dead hemlock; so through a slit (or circle 
on a good ledge) down other passages within the rock, right, to 
the talus, or debris from the cliff. North of the hemlock there is 
a scramble up. The third way might be called Wall-face Trail, 
as it skirts the base of comely polished perpendiculars through 
big hemlocks. It is the best route down to the beach, and opens 
just south of Devil's Hole — simple, but steep in spots, and worthy 
of amending. The fourth ascent is not difificult, and is readily 
found close to the fence. Its lower end is south of the wide place 
in the road. The start of the other trails is bard to find from 
the Drive. The map, with its front view, will show where to 
start, by a comparison of view on map with the actual skyline. 
Canoe Beach and Powder Dock (Map C). The river path is 
broad and alluring, with numerous old camp sites set along the 
footway or on little jutting elevations or on an upper terrace. The 
upper path is somewhat overgrown and has no views, so that to 
return on one's tracks the Drive may be followed. The camp 

[28] 



sites are now above Alpine. Here are attractive lunch and 
cooking places and canoe beaches. Clinton Point makes a picture 
between the trees. 

Immediately before reaching Lamhers Dock a road mounts 
past a construction camp to the Drive. On the Drive a short 
distance south a comely steep ascent is to be found, or north of the 
buildings the old Buckingham quarry road offers a good grade. 
As this reaches the upper level the path leads off to the view on 
page I . The tip of Lambiers Dock gives a fine profile of several 
of the headlands, as far as Man-in-the-Rock. The path continues 
to Buttermilk Falls, a trickle in August and an ice-mass in. 
January, but, in spring, after rain, as impressive as the sketch 
taken from the river shows. Beyond, to Huylers, the river path 
has suffered a sea change, but is passable. A path up, near the 
fall, is planned. 

Greenbrook Region, including Lambiers (Map C). This is 
3 miles north of Englewood and 2 miles south of Alpine. It is 
the largest wild area of the Palisades section of the Park, extend- 
ing back from the river more than }4 mile. The map, and particu- 
larly the drawing beneath the map, gives an idea of the rugged 
wooded hills, interspersed with brooks and waterfalls, where 
numerous places are provided for two people to occupy balcony 
seats like that on the first page of this guide to happiness and 
health. The only easy mounting is by the road at Lambiers or 
by the path back of Huylers, but the three brooks and the gap 
just south of the road from Lambiers furnish openings for 
climbs. There will be a large lake back in the woods some day, 
and then the road will be shifted west of it. This hollow was 
called "the Kelders" (Dutch for "cellars"). The brooks are worth 
following up. Buttermilk Falls should be seen from the shore and 
from the bridge and on a little ledge overhanging them on the 
north side, and these points show in the sketch. 

As yet there is no path or trail up the falls, but one can scramble 
to the height of the bridge (170 feet), take the old wooden steps 
north of the bridge and reach the middle of the upper fall ; and so 
up. As for the climbs of the cliff-front of Greenbrook other than 

[29] 



those mentioned, warning should be 
given that there is much loosened rock 
and they are unsafe. The columnar 
structure is in evidence here, as shown 
on page i and on Map C south of the 
southerly brook. All this part of Hudson 
Drive is finely wooded and stately, 
rising well above the river to the sweep 
of the concrete bridge across Green- 
brook. 

Huylers (Maps C and D). From the 
foot of the Falls the path follows the 
river, then mounts to the old house. 
The two ways to the top start on the 
Drive south of the house. The path to 
the left is better than the wood-road 
but comes out on it higher up. There 
is little outlook from the front. A path 
leaves the wood-road to lead to the 
Boulevard, and along the Boulevard one 
goes south to Greenbrook, ^^ mile, but 
the first or second wood-road may be taken into the Park, To go 
northward on the Boulevard is to be confined to the road for l^ 
miles, nearly to Alpine; so the shore is recommended for this 
stretch. The shore path is very picturesque. The drive is shaded 
and looks up to jagged skyline and good piers and pinnacles. 

Alpine (Maps D and E; for access, see Access Map). Resi- 
dences make up this village, scattered partly along the cliff, 
and owning the front except at one spot (440 on map) . (The only 
laurel grove remaining of all the former thickets, is on the McNeil 
place.) The landing has the old Cornwallis headquarters as the 
Park office. The Approach roadway runs a long slant southward 
before it turns to skirt the base of the precipices high above. In 
ascending, one should not miss the weird flamelike outline of the 
rock against the sky. The panorama from Bombay Hook shows 
the landing and the road above it. The shorter way up is a 

[30] 







pretty zigzag road, from the 
first elbow of which the 
northward path begins. From 
the dock do not omit to look 
north to see the slender 
curved pinnacle of Bombay 
Hook, Man-in-the-Rock (as 
shown on p. 35). 

For lesser walks the mile or 
two south of the Landing 
(Map D) is a path full of 
variety and charm, which 
wanders up and down, owing 





'(ijpjP^roacA^ 



to washouts on the river-edge 
way, and the return, if desired, 
may be along Drive. The big 
boulder by the river is known 
as Hay-Kee-pook, whence an 
Indian lover is said to have 
committed suicide. This may 
be derived from the Delaware 
Indian words, W'ha-ki-a-puchk 
(His-body-rock). Greenbrook 
is 2 miles below, and the road 
up, at Lambiers yi mile farther. 
The Falls may be seen from the 
shore and, by rising at Lam- 
biers to the Drive, from the 
bridge also. Northward from 



[31] 




Alpine one goes by the road that leaves the Landing sharply up- 
ward, and, at the first turn, at a white house, continues on this 
level past fine hemlocks, a brook, some small houses at Cape Fly- 
away, and then good woods. Forest View is somewhat over 2 miles, 
and one passes the camps and some of the best cliffs on the way. 
The return should be by the shore, and there are paths at more 
than one level. One may well go far enough north of Forest 
View to see the Great Rocks, some close (p. 36), some % mile 
further (p. 38). One would best take the ferry direct from Forest 
View to Yonkers, or go north on the Rock Path, up Gutter Point 
Path to Waterfall Creek, Palisade village, and from there by 
Snedens Landing and Dobbs Ferry, in summer, or from Palisade 
to Tappan, in winter. From Alpine to Englewood the distance 
is 5 miles in direct line: from Alpine to Snedens Landing by 
path and road, about 5>^ miles. 

Excelsior has pavilions and camps, tall trees, and open slopes 
well grassed. The view from above gives the form of this shore. 
The ferry makes a stop here. 

[32] 



Tavist Vi 




Twombleys has the same general character. From the layers 
of oyster shell found here it is believed, like Cape Flyaway, to 
have had its Indian camps or villages. The old name was Point 
Comfort. Up above, there stands out the largest separated sec- 
tion of rock, Gray Crag, some 300 feet long and 10 to 20 feet wide. 
The crevice between the rock island and the mainland is spanned 
by a bridge. A second bridge connecting the two portions is 
visible from below. 

Bombay Hook. The highest, the most isolated, and the most 
conspicuous pillar of rock of all the Palisades curves upward, 
literally curves upward, at the foot of the cliff between two 
mighty slides at this point. This pillar, 70 feet high, is Man-in- 
the-Rock. From Alpine ferry or dock one should look for it, as, 
close at hand, it is hard to distinguish from the cliff face behind it. 
The map locates it for us when we stand beneath. It is worth a 
climb to understand how the blocks are balanced, one upon 
another. The path to the summit of the "Mountain" starting 
north of the brook, steep and little shaded, leads up to this, the 
first of the 500-foot levels, to the Table Rock, and to strange rifts 
in the plateau. Note, on the map, how this old brook bed on top 

[33] 







and 



running south shows complete 
breaks in its course. The vast cliff 
has apparently given way, under- 
mined by water, and slid outward 
bodily until there are little crev- 
asses lo feet deep, lOO feet and 
more from the front, parallel to 
the front line, toppling trees over 
and with good sized trees growing 
in one gap. The front will also 
reward exploration, where the cliffs 
broke away, and the little cleft 
facing up-river with the hemlocks 
growing in it. This latter calls 
loudly for a trail from below. 
From this point one follows a path 
then a wood -road to the open space at the end of 
Ruckman Road. Here is a view of a straight rock-wall at one 
of the high points, 520 feet. A pillar leans against the cliff below 
(see p. 37). A detour, this time not inconsiderable, is necessary 
to get to Indian Head or Forest View. 

Forest View (Map F). (Ferry from Yonkers in summer.) No 
part of the park boasts better scenery, whether from below or 
above, and hereabouts the cliffs are highest and fall farthest. 
We wander about on the big green playground and look up 
southward to the two vast bastions called Ruckmans Point, or 
north to the forest slopes that fall from Indian Head. Standing 
where the path from the dock crosses the outer lengthwise path, 
the best aspect of the face comes out, not the Indian or the 
Padroon but the Yankee pioneer. Then we note the evergreen 
grove and get the last drink for some time or fill the canteen. We 
leave the young people, who think this setting was planned for 
baseball, or dancing, or sitting on a big flat rock up the hill before 
an exquisite vista of river framed in foliage — which they fail 
to notice. 
Women's Federation Park has a comely front on the cliff, 

[34] 







reached by a good path 
that starts among the 
evergreens but has a 
branch — the southerly of 
the two north of the 
pavilion. The upper part 
has steps with high risers, 
then swings left and for- 
ward. The path to the 
Boulevard is at the south 
fence. The brook comes 
from a flat called the Corn- 
Lot, or Maisland Hollow. 
Indian Head (Map F). 
Mounting by the same 
path, either (i) At top of 
steps go up 50 feet, turn 
right, dip to brook, and along a slant and up the ledges. Watch 
your step, since, if there be copperheads, this may be the place in 
the sun for these little venomous snakes that are colored like 
autumn leaves. Above, after passing through bushes, the front 
is open bare rock, overhanging, with views. Or (2) a better and 
more open w^ay — at top of steps mount 100 yards, and, where the 
wide path turns left, keep on, right, down, cross brook, and 
ascend. On reaching low growth watch for right fork, leading 
through hemlock wood, and thus avoid the suspicious ledges. 
North of the open space about ]4 n^ile (by path back from the 
front) is the high point, 530 feet, with the cliff dropping 330 
feet. (The other high point is at the house above Forest View 
pavilion.) Looking south along the edge, one sights the face, 
a hook-nosed Indian with low forehead and, for feathers, bushes 
bent backward. Beyond this, across a stone wall, are open 
fields, and here a round little oak grows solitary on a glorious 
basalt pillar outstanding from talus to top, a miniature El 
Capitan. Proceeding and crossing the stone wall where the path 
bends to the front, one looks back on an imposing fagade of rock, 

[35] 




in places overhanging, with 
the full-length figure of the 
Indian, if you please. This 
part is the upper end of the 
Park where it extends back 
nearly to the Boulevard. A 
wood-road and path keep 
back from a front too much 
overgrown for views, but a 
watch is kept for the six-foot 
white stone monument that 
marks the boundary between 
New Jersey and New York, 
and also for the outlook from this High Gutter Point over Tappan 
Sea, Hook Mountain, Nyack, the old mile-long pier of the Erie 
Railroad, and Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow depicted on page 41. 
Why "gutter"? Because the wood-burning river steamers came 
into the bank to the foot of a chute to get their fuel. Descending 
northward to the gully, one comes upon the path running east 
and west that mounts from the shore. Turning left on this 
brings us to the brook and the drink. Across Waterfall Creek the 
trail forks at once — to the right, ^ mile through woods and farm 
roads, to Palisade; to the left, by path and trail, to the fields of 
Skunk Hollow where Sugar Jackson and the colored people lived 
and to the Boulevard, ^2 mile. By the latter way some skill is 
required to follow good blazes, sharp south, then ascending, 

turning southwest, watching 
the sidepaths. 

From the brook-crossing a 
good path is needed (where 
the strip of Park land runs) 
out to the Boulevard. It will 
be noted that our map dis- 
torts distances here and the 
road is further from the 
brook than shown. One 
[36] 




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should follow the brook down, through a hemlock grove, to the 
fall. Without intruding on the private property that is just 
beyond the foot of the fall, one may admire the pool and its 
Buddha, and the pergola. In returning, the edge may be followed 
past some stately buttresses and good outlooks shown on the 
long front view (Map F). 

The Great Rock Walk. Leaving Forest View pavilion one keeps 
to the greensward toward the rocks to the north, to observe some 
of the immense masses the cliffs have cast down — their flat 
cleavages, their wave lines, their variety of decorative markings. 
Here a stair of stone is a surprise, going up to join our path, which 
really started at the pavilion. This rock walk, halfway between 
shore and cliff, leading across huge slides, is mostly in the shade, 
and has fine framed outlooks. After leaving the steps a short 
branch runs upward; then, 1-200 yards further on, a branch 
ascends to the foot of the cliffs, to rejoin the main path later. 

With consummate landscape art this footway wanders by huge 
monoliths and giant staircases from one view to another on a 
course that, in Europe, would be justly famous. The vast wall 
hangs above us. The river of wonders is at our feet. To surrender 
to a motor highway this narrow pass, this massed magnificence, 
this heap of precious stones which the Great Artist sculptured, 
were desecration that could never be undone nor would ever be 
condoned. Matchless as it is, it should remain, boasting the 
grandeur of a bit of unspoiled, far-off mountain range within 
sight of the biggest city in the world. The sharp zigzags of 
Englewood were needed. The hard ruled line across the land- 
scape at Alpine was required. Look at these below Maps B and 
E. Then glance at the sketch opposite that hints at the stateli- 
ness of the noblest of our rock masses heaped below the tallest of 
these everlasting bastions, and replace them, in your mind's eye, 
with the smug new cut-stone walls of Englewood or the mile-long 
scar, the scarp of dirt at Alpine. No scarlet blush of autumn 
could atone for, and no luscious growth of spring efface the insult 
and the devastation. 

Now one may (i) turn back, taking the upper path; or (2) go 

[39] 



another half mile to the State 
line, where the path is built 
out into the stream that it 
may make the circuit of the 
grandfather of all boulders, 
the very seat of the great god 
Pan, for beyond are the reeds 
by the river; thence up the 
front at High Gutter Point, 
and so back on top; or (3), 
instead of turning back on 
top, go on to the water-fall, 
and further, to Palisade and 
Tappan or Palisade-Snedens 
Landing and Dobbs Ferry. 

Palisade Village. It is 
hardly credible that a settle- 
ment of such old-time charm 
should still exist within a 
hundred miles of the metrop- 
olis. Houses Hollanders built, 
with greenswards and gardens, and cottages artists guarded 
through the Age of Evil Taste in the prosperous 70's — with a few 
contrasts for the better appreciation — are scattered up and down 
these parklike hillsides. A road leads to Sparkill, Piermont, 
Nyack and Hook Mountain (insert. Map E) and one to the rail- 
road 2>^ miles west, at Tappan. Downhill a good road goes to 
SnedensLanding. North of the brook and part way up the hill 
the rampart of the old redoubt (page 12) is reached by a field road 
running off from the asphalt just below the fourth bend above the 
landing — the first sharp bend coming downhill. Here the Ameri- 
can flag received its first salute from the British in May, 1783. 
The British fleet used the anchorage at this point from 1776 to 
1783. Here Andre was landed after his capture on the other 
side of the river on his way to Tappan. Except in colder months, 
a launch will convey passengers to Dobbs Ferry opposite. 

[40] 




Long Walks, and Climbs 

When tramping the whole length of the Park avoid the summit 
north and south of Alpine. The walk must be nearly 15 miles. 
The following variants are suggested, (i) Fort Lee or Hazards; 
on top along Quarry Cliff, Coytesville Park, to the tront over 
the ferry at Englewood, down the Approach to the north elbow, 
along Henry Hudson Drive past Englewood Grove to Canoe 
Beach; here climb to top and on to Greenbrook, down the brook 
and old wooden steps to bridge, by Drive to Huylers, by path 
to Alpine and to Twombleys, up to top on Bombay Hook, to 
Ruckman Road, down at Forest View, rock path to Giant Stair, 
back on upper path to Forest View, ferry to Yonkers; or, on rock 
path to and up Gutter Point to Palisade, Snedens Landing, 
Dobbs Ferry, or Palisade-Tappan. (2) Ferry to Hazards and 
along shore, up at Englewood, along top as far as Lambiers; then 
down to Drive or shore to 
Alpine and Forest View, up to 
Indian Head, on top to High 
Gutter Point; down and back 
by rock path, or else from 
Gutter Point to waterfall and 
Palisade. (3) Bluff Point, and 
on top as far as Greenbrook; 
explore Greenbrook, return by 
shore to Hazards, taking, on 
the way, any desired ascent. 

To continue north to other 
sections of the Park one takes 
the Palisade-Sparkill road (see 
insert on Map E), then Pier- 
mont, the upper road to Nyack 
(Blauvelt is on the western 
slope of this wooded ridge), to 
Hook Mountain, High Tor 
above Haverstraw, stopping 
at Haverstraw at the U. S. 

[41] 




Hotel. The next day to Bear Mountain to lunch, the following 
day by one of the new trails the length of the Bear Mountain- 
Harriman Park section to Arden or Tuxedo. There are very few 
facilities for stopping over night on this trip, but Nyack and 
Haverstraw are available, and "there are no restrictions on 
camping anywhere in this [Palisades] section of the Park for one 
night, provided the camp is made where directed by one of the 
patrolmen" (W. A. Welch). 

For the liberality of the States and the private donors provid- 
ing this Great Playground, and for the labor and wisdom and 
courtesy of the Commissioners and Staff administering it, ever 
increasing hundreds of thousands render praise and thanksgiving. 

May success and support continue! 

Robert Latou Dickinson 
September, 1921 



over UnScTcdfr arvd. We 
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[42] 



Regulations 

The policy of the management embodies a maximum of trust 
and a minimum of restriction, putting the people's park into the 
people's care. The patrolmen are particularly courteous and 
helpful. There are offices at Hazards Beach, Englewood Basin, 
Alpine, and Forest View. The New York office of the Park 
Commission is at 90 Wall Street. 

The Park has been developed not only for your use and pleasure but 
as well for other visitors who will come after you. You are asked to 
comply with the following: 

The Commission have put the Buildings, Benches, Tables and other 
property here for your convenience. Do not destroy or deface them. 

Leave all flowers, shrubbery, and trees as you find them. We try to 
protect them — help us do so. 

After you picnic, please clean up. Papers and other refuse should be 
placed in receptacles provided for this purpose or taken to the beach and 
burned. Bottles and cans should be left neatly piled. 

Build your fire on the beach only. A fire in the woods will destroy 
more trees and shrubbery in an hour than can be replaced in years. 

Broken bottles and tin cans cause many an injured foot. Do not throw 
them in the water. Put them in the receptacles. 

If you are in bathing attire, you are requested to remain in the vicinity 
of the bathing beaches. 

Your dog is your friend, but perhaps not your neighbor's. Keep it 
muzzled or on leash. 

When climbing the rocks use care. Do not start them rolling. Give a 
thought to the persons below you. 

The springs must not be contaminated. The water is to drink and must 
be clean. Do your share to keep it so. 

The Park Patrolmen are here to protect the visitors and park property. 
You help them. 

Automobile Roads. Blue Book and auto maps will guide to Fort Lee 
or Englewood, and Access Map gives good roads of 192 1. Above Alpine 
the Boulevard is a rather lonely place to leave a car unattended, and this 
is partly true of Greenbrook. Access to front of cliff at Clinton Point, at 
Ruckman Road, and also above Hazards, and at Coytesville Park. The 
very splendid motor road from Englewood Landing to Alpine Landing 
along shore has been described, with the Approaches at these points. 



[43] 



Access to Palisades Park 

Ferries. 130th St. (Manhattan Ave.) and Edgewater-Fort Lee. As a 
thoroughfare, 125th St. ends in the diagonal of Manhattan Ave., reaching 
the river at 130th St. The 125th St. cars, some Broadway cars, and others 
run to the ferry. It is two long blocks from the 125th St. station of the 
Broadway-yth Ave. subway from down town and Brooklyn, allowing 
from 60 to 80 minutes to Edgewater from Times Square. Runs all the 
year, at intervals of 15 minutes in busy times, and carries automobiles. 
5 cents. 

Hazards Beach and 158th St. Reached from 157th St. station of 
Broadway-yth Ave. subway, two long blocks downhill. In summer only, 
about every half hour in busy times. Passengers only. 

Dyckman St. and Englewood. At about the level of 207th St. Reached 
from Dyckman St. station of Broadway-7th Ave. subway by a walk of 
K mile. Jitney may run, particularly holidays and Sundays in warmer 
months. Ferry runs mid-April to mid-November. Carries automobiles. 
At other times of year launch may be had at boathouse south of ferry for 
about $1.00. Motor bus to Englewood and Tenafly hourly in summer. 

Yonkers and Alpine. Passenger ferry, vehicular eventually, now runs 
May to October. Usually leaves Yonkers on the half hour, from the 
steamer dock south of the railroad station, and 3 long blocks west of the 
Broadway trolley. Yonkers is reached within an hour from downtown 
New York by Broadway-7th Ave. subway to terminal at 242d St. and 
trolley (15 cents). Last boat from Alpine about 5 p. m. 

Yonkers-Excelsior-Twombleys-Forest View. Passenger ferry every 2 
hours, beginning Yonkers 9 a. m., returning from Forest View on the 
even hour, the last boat at 4 p. m. Summer months only. 

Dobbs Ferry and Snedens Landing. Launch may be summoned by 
signal from station at Dobbs Ferry on N. Y. Central, May-October. 
Returning, if no convenient train, walk to trolley at Hastings. 

Railroads. The Northern New Jersey branch of the Erie R. R. runs 
west of the Palisades about 2>^ miles and through Sparkill and Piermont 
to Nyack, the West Shore a mile or two west of the above. These serve 
mainly for the longer of the winter walks north of Tenafly, when ferries 
have stopped. 

Trolley Lines. From the ferry at Edgewater electric lines run to 
Fort Lee; also two miles and more west of the front of the cliffs to Engle- 
wood, and so north as far as Tenafly. For Coytesville one transfers from 
any of these hnes, the Coytesville trolley continuing south to Jersey City. 

Launches may be hired at Yonkers and at Dyckman St. for trips along 
the front. 

[44] 




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ACCESS TO 
PALISADES INTERSTATE PARK 



Femes 
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